DM&E will likely rise again, and conditions may be different

The Dakota Minnesota
& Eastern Railroad said last week it is suspending its planned $6 billion
project to ship Wyoming coal across South Dakota and Minnesota, due to the poor
economy, noted an editorial in the Madison, S.D., Daily Leader. A controversial
proposal for more than a decade, the DM&E's expansion was effectively put
on hold when it dropped its condemnation lawsuits against some landowners where
the trains would have run.

The expansion project
also included upgrading existing rail lines, much of it across South Dakota.
The project had been endorsed by both Gov. Bill Janklow and Gov. Mike Rounds,
as well as other public officials, but faced resistance at Brookings, Pierre
and other locations. The most prominent protesters were Rochester, Minn., and
the Mayo Clinic.

Many things have happened
since DM&E went to work on the expansion and upgrade. The company was sold
to Canadian Pacific Railway, energy prices have fluctuated wildly, train
traffic has dropped because of the national recession and Congress is debating
climate change legislation that could affect coal-fired power plants.

Even so, we expect the
project will eventually be proposed again. The nation will emerge from the
recession, and the pressure to produce power domestically will keep growing.
The last remaining objection -- the environmental impact of coal plants -- is
still a wild card.

Other conditions may also
change, including the regulatory climate, agricultural production along the
route and the emergence of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and
biomass.

DM&E may put the plans
on a shelf for a while, but we'd guess they won't be thrown away.